Search results

1 – 10 of 335
Article
Publication date: 20 February 2023

Erol Kayatas and Murat Celik

Any consensus about the effects of dihedral angle on hover rigidity of rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (RW-UAVs) does not exist in the literature. There are researchers who…

Abstract

Purpose

Any consensus about the effects of dihedral angle on hover rigidity of rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (RW-UAVs) does not exist in the literature. There are researchers who state that the dihedral angle has an effect on flight stability and researchers who claim the opposite. The discord stems from the different approaches of these groups to the concept of “stability,” the fact that they conduct experiments whose measurements are largely influenced by environmental conditions, and the physical assumptions are not similar. On the other hand, there is no study examining the effect of dihedral angle on the maneuverability of drones either. This study aims to analytically reveal the consequences of dihedral angles in RW-UAVs in terms of flight agility and maneuverability.

Design/methodology/approach

Dihedral angle examinations on both hover rigidity and maneuverability are carried out analytically. Equations of motions for a multicopter’s rigid body with a dihedral angle under two different conditions (zero and nonzero dihedral angles) are derived. Numerical simulations are conducted by defining the simulation parameters, and then displacement graphics for the center of mass are interpreted.

Findings

The presence of a dihedral angle makes the multicopter platforms behave like a pendulum, and this pendulum motion affects the disturbance rejection and the planar maneuver capabilities of multicopters. Since deflections can be spread to the orthonormal axes thanks to rotation about a pivot, net deflections of the geometric center may be diminished. Besides, pendulum motion eases the maneuvers with yaw rotations since the required rotation might occur without rotors’ revolution per minute changes.

Practical implications

Proposed dihedral angle implementation may enhance the hover stiffness and maneuverability capabilities of multicopters which, in turn, raise the performance of the drones.

Originality/value

This paper presents the analytical basis for the dihedral angle's effects on flight stability and agility.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 95 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 October 2022

Chenhao Wei, Gang Lin, Jun Huang, Lei Song and Howard Smith

Unlike conventional aircraft, birds can glide without a vertical tail. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of dihedral angle spanwise distribution on…

Abstract

Purpose

Unlike conventional aircraft, birds can glide without a vertical tail. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of dihedral angle spanwise distribution on lateral-directional dynamic stability by the simulation, calculation in the development of the bird-inspired aircraft and the flight testing.

Design/methodology/approach

The gliding magnificent frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) was selected as the study object. The geometric and mass model of the study object were developed. Stability derivatives and moments of inertia were obtained. The lateral-directional stability was assessed under different spanwise distributions of dihedral angle. A bird-inspired aircraft was developed, and a flight test was carried out to verify the analysed results.

Findings

The results show that spanwise distribution changing of dihedral angle has influence on the lateral-directional mode stability. All of the analysed configurations have convergent Dutch roll mode and rolling mode. The key role of dihedral angle changing is to achieve a convergent spiral mode. Flight test results show that the bird-inspired aircraft has a well-convergent Dutch roll mode.

Practical implications

The theory that birds can achieve its lateral-directional stability by changing its dihedral angle spanwise distribution may explain the stability mechanism of gliding birds.

Originality/value

This paper helps to improve the understanding of bird gliding stability mechanism and provides bio-inspired solutions in aircraft designing.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 94 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 January 2017

Mojtaba Tahani, Mehran Masdari and Ali Bargestan

This paper aims to investigate the aerodynamic characteristics as well as static stability of wing-in-ground effect aircraft. The effect of geometrical characteristics, namely…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the aerodynamic characteristics as well as static stability of wing-in-ground effect aircraft. The effect of geometrical characteristics, namely, twist angle, dihedral angle, sweep angle and taper ratio are examined.

Design/methodology/approach

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic code is developed to investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of the effect. The turbulent model is utilized for characterization of flow over wing surface.

Findings

The numerical results show that the maximum change of the drag coefficient depends on the angle of attack, twist angle and ground clearance, in a decreasing order. Also, it is found that the lift coefficient increases as the ground clearance, twist angle and dihedral angle decrease. On the other hand, the sweep angle does not have a significant effect on the lift coefficient for the considered wing section and Reynolds number. Also, as the aerodynamic characteristics increase, the taper ratio befits in trailing state.

Practical implications

To design an aircraft, the effect of each design parameter needs to be estimated. For this purpose, the sensitivity analysis is used. In this paper, the influence of all parameter against each other including ground clearance, angle of attack, twist angle, dihedral angle and sweep angle for the NACA 6409 are investigated.

Originality/value

As a summary, the contribution of this paper is to predict the aerodynamic performance for the cruise condition. In this study, the sensitivity of the design parameter on aerodynamic performance can be estimated and the effect of geometrical characteristics has been investigated in detail. Also, the best lift to drag coefficient for the NACA 6409 wing section specifies and two types of taper ratios in ground effect are compared.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 89 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2018

Tugrul Oktay, Seda Arik, Ilke Turkmen, Metin Uzun and Harun Celik

The aim of this paper is to redesign of morphing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using neural network for simultaneous improvement of roll stability coefficient and maximum…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to redesign of morphing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using neural network for simultaneous improvement of roll stability coefficient and maximum lift/drag ratio.

Design/methodology/approach

Redesign of a morphing our UAV manufactured in Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Erciyes University is performed with using artificial intelligence techniques. For this purpose, an objective function based on artificial neural network (ANN) is obtained to get optimum values of roll stability coefficient (Clβ) and maximum lift/drag ratio (Emax). The aim here is to save time and obtain satisfactory errors in the optimization process in which the ANN trained with the selected data is used as the objective function. First, dihedral angle (φ) and taper ratio (λ) are selected as input parameters, C*lβ and Emax are selected as output parameters for ANN. Then, ANN is trained with selected input and output data sets. Training of the ANN is possible by adjusting ANN weights. Here, ANN weights are adjusted with artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm. After adjusting process, the objective function based on ANN is optimized with ABC algorithm to get better Clβ and Emax, i.e. the ABC algorithm is used for two different purposes.

Findings

By using artificial intelligence methods for redesigning of morphing UAV, the objective function consisting of C*lβ and Emax is maximized.

Research limitations/implications

It takes quite a long time for Emax data to be obtained realistically by using the computational fluid dynamics approach.

Practical implications

Neural network incorporation with the optimization method idea is beneficial for improving Clβ and Emax. By using this approach, low cost, time saving and practicality in applications are achieved.

Social implications

This method based on artificial intelligence methods can be useful for better aircraft design and production.

Originality/value

It is creating a novel method in order to redesign of morphing UAV and improving UAV performance.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 90 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 June 2020

Kaili Yao, Dongyang Chu, Ting Li, Zhanli Liu, Bao-Hua Guo, Jun Xu and Zhuo Zhuang

The purpose of this paper is to calculate the Hugoniot relations of polyurea; also to investigate the atomic-scale energy change, the related chain conformation evolution and the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to calculate the Hugoniot relations of polyurea; also to investigate the atomic-scale energy change, the related chain conformation evolution and the hydrogen bond dissociation of polyurea under high-speed shock.

Design/methodology/approach

The atomic-scale simulations are achieved by molecular dynamics (MD). Both non-equilibrium MD and multi-scale shock technique are used to simulate the high-speed shock. The energy dissipation is theoretically derived by the thermodynamic and the Hugoniot relations. The distributions of bond length, angle and dihedral angle are used to characterize the chain conformation evolution. The hydrogen bonds are determined by a geometrical criterion.

Findings

The Hugoniot relations calculated are in good agreement with the experimental data. It is found that under the same impact pressure, polyurea with lower hard segment content has higher energy dissipation during the shock-release process. The primary energy dissipation way is the heat dissipation caused by the increase of kinetic energy. Unlike tensile simulation, the molecular potential increment is mainly divided into the increments of the bond energy, angle energy and dihedral angle energy under shock loading and is mostly stored in the soft segments. The hydrogen bond potential increment only accounts for about 1% of the internal energy increment under high-speed shock.

Originality/value

The simulation results are meaningful for understanding and evaluating the energy dissipation mechanism of polyurea under shock loading, and could provide a reference for material design.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 38 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1957

O.E. Michaelsen

This article deals with some of the stability, control and handling problems that have arisen as a result of drastic changes in aircraft configuration coupled with the advent of…

Abstract

This article deals with some of the stability, control and handling problems that have arisen as a result of drastic changes in aircraft configuration coupled with the advent of supersonic flight at high altitude. The article will be published in two parts. The present part contains a brief introduction to the subject of aircraft stability and control in addition to a description of the longitudinal characteristics of supersonic aircraft. The second part will be published in our next issue, and will deal with the lateral characteristics of supersonic aircraft. Some of the problems encountered in the design of the flying control system for this type of aircraft and an indication of the methods and techniques used for solving the various stability problems are also presented in the second part.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 29 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-2667

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1959

A.D. Howarth

Last month Mr Macqueen's article dealt generally with solid geometry and industrial drawing. In the present article Mr Howarth, who is a member of the SBAC Committee on the…

Abstract

Last month Mr Macqueen's article dealt generally with solid geometry and industrial drawing. In the present article Mr Howarth, who is a member of the SBAC Committee on the Training of Draughtsmen, follows this with the development of 1st and 3rd angle projection in particular.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Article
Publication date: 8 March 2011

Jingbin Hao, Liang Fang and Robert E. Williams

Rapid prototyping (RP) of large‐scale solid models requires the stereolithographic (STL) file to be precisely partitioned. Especially, the selection of cutting positions is…

1013

Abstract

Purpose

Rapid prototyping (RP) of large‐scale solid models requires the stereolithographic (STL) file to be precisely partitioned. Especially, the selection of cutting positions is critical for the fabrication and assembly of sub‐models. The purpose of this paper is to present an efficient curvature‐based partitioning for selecting the best‐fit loop and decomposing the large complex model into smaller and simpler sub‐models with similar‐shaped joints, which facilitate the final assembly.

Design/methodology/approach

The partition algorithm is benefited from curvature analysis of the model surface, including extracting the feature edges and constructing the feature loops. The efficiency enhancement is achieved by selecting the best‐fit loop and constructing the similar‐shape joints. The utility of the algorithm is demonstrated by the fabrication of large‐scale rapid prototypes.

Findings

By using the proposed curvature‐based partition algorithm, the reasonability and efficiency of STL model partition can be greatly improved, and the complexity of sub‐models has been reduced. It is found that the large‐scale model is efficiently partitioned and the sub‐models are precisely assembled using the proposed partitioning.

Originality/value

The curvature‐based partition algorithm is used in the RP field for the first time. Based on the curvature‐based partitioning, the reasonability and efficiency of large‐scale RP is addressed in this paper.

Details

Rapid Prototyping Journal, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2546

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 July 2019

Yiwei Wang, Xianghua Huang and Jiaqin Huang

The purpose of the paper is to build a real-time integrated turboprop take-off model which fully takes the interaction between diverse parts of aircraft into consideration…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to build a real-time integrated turboprop take-off model which fully takes the interaction between diverse parts of aircraft into consideration. Turboprops have the advantage of short take-off distance derived from propeller-wing interaction. Traditional turboprop take-off model is inappropriate because interactions between diverse parts of aircrafts are not fully considered or longer calculation time is required. To make full use of the advantage of short take-off distance, a real-time integrated take-off model is needed for analysing flight performance and developing an integrated propeller-engine-aircraft control system.

Design/methodology/approach

A new integrated three-degree-of-freedom take-off model is developed, which takes a modified propeller model, a wing model and the predominant propeller-wing interaction into account. The propeller model, based on strip theory, overcomes the shortage that the strip theory does not work if the angle of propeller axis and inflow velocity is non-zero. The wing model uses the lifting line method. The proposed propeller-wing interaction model simplifies the complex propeller-wing flow field. Simulations of ATR42 take-off model are conducted in the following three modes: propeller-wing interaction is ignored; influence of propeller on wing is considered only; and propeller-wing interaction is considered.

Findings

Comparison of take-off distances and flight parameters shows that propeller-wing interaction has a vital impact on take-off distance and flight parameters of turboprops.

Practical implications

The real-time integrated take-off model provides time-history flight parameters, which plays an important role in an integrated propeller-engine-aircraft control system to analyse and improve flight performance.

Originality/value

The real-time integrated take-off model is more precise because propeller-wing interaction is considered. Each calculation step costs less than 20 ms, which meets real-time calculation requirements. The modified propeller model overcomes the shortage of strip theory.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 91 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1939

J.H. Crowe

The rolling inertia moment can be obtained by substitution of liquation (1) in liquation (9). Thus:

Abstract

The rolling inertia moment can be obtained by substitution of liquation (1) in liquation (9). Thus:

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-2667

1 – 10 of 335